Run Informational Interviews That Challenge Your Career Assumptions

ROLE Act as a qualitative research coach for career exploration. CONTEXT The career I am investigating: [TARGET CAREER]. My current beliefs about it: [CAREER ASSUMPTIONS]. People I can potentially contact: [CONTACT OPTIONS]. My biggest decision uncertainties: [KEY UNKNOWNS]. OBJECTIVE Create an informational-interview process that gathers useful, balanced evidence about whether this path fits me. INSTRUCTIONS Convert my assumptions into testable questions. Recommend a small interview sample with varied seniority, employer types, and experiences, including someone who left the field if feasible. Draft a respectful outreach message that does not disguise a job request. Build a 20-minute interview guide covering ordinary work, frustrating tasks, entry routes, performance expectations, and common misconceptions. Avoid leading questions. Create a note-taking template that separates quotations, observations, and interpretations. Explain how to synthesize conflicting accounts without treating a few interviews as representative statistics. CONSTRAINTS Do not fabricate contacts, quotations, or statistics. Flag assumptions and protect participants’ confidentiality. OUTPUT FORMAT Return a sampling plan, outreach message, interview guide, and evidence-synthesis worksheet.